News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Articles written by helen schmidling


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  • Library showcases local photographer

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Aug 8, 2017

    When Wendy Birnbaum was tooling around Ireland one day, a total stranger tapped her on the shoulder and said, "I love your sweater! I knit it." She'd purchased the Kelly-green sweater several days previously in a shop in the town of Doolin. The sweater's knitter was named John, one of two brothers who own the Glencoe Woolen Mill Shop in the town of Glencolmcille, County Donegal. She then visited John's shop, where she was so taken with the spools of hand-dyed yarn that she... Full story

  • Studio tour to feature 12 local artists

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Jul 25, 2017

    Have you ever wanted to try your hand at throwing a pot, or color your world with pastels on paper? Maybe you've always wanted to see how a sculptor works on a large piece of art, what it takes to turn sheets of glass into fine art, or how an artist creates "knitting stitches" in paintings. Sisters Arts Association celebrates Sisters' community of artists at its first Artist Studio Tour, Saturday, July 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is a first for the Sisters Arts... Full story

  • Sisters Arts Association Fourth Friday Art Stroll

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Jun 20, 2017

    Celebrate the arrival of summer by strolling through the galleries of Sisters during the Fourth Friday Art Stroll, June 23 from 4 to 7 p.m. Grab your friends and enjoy the warmer weather and art while sampling light refreshments. Hood Avenue Art is featuring Central Oregon pastels and oils by Kathleen Keliher and original Oregon sunstone jewelry by Elyse and Steven Douglas. Gary Cooley's Collection Gallery features Cindy Briggs' luminous watercolors inspired by her many journeys. Briggs' work has been featured in major public... Full story

  • Sisters Arts Association Fourth Friday Art Stroll

    Helen Schmidling|Updated May 23, 2017

    Sisters Arts Association's Fourth Friday Art Stroll is this Friday, May 26, from 4 to 7 p.m., in local galleries. At Hood Avenue Art, Katherine Taylor and Blaine Cyr are showing their work. Taylor's oil paintings use mood, color, and palette knife to form two-dimensional images that suggest a three-dimensional experience. Cyr creates segmented wooden bowls with upward of a thousand handcrafted pieces chosen for color and character. Clarke Berryman is the featured artist at... Full story

  • Oregon Wings and Feathers calendars available

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Oct 4, 2016

    The 2017 "Oregon Wings and Feathers" calendar is now available. Sisters wildlife photographer Douglas Beall has assembled this year's calendar from his favorite photographs of birds taken in the past year. Beall photographs and writes the Sisters Country Birds feature for The Nugget. This month, Beall's photographs of Oregon Waterfowl are featured in the computer room of the Sisters Library. Beall, who lives in Camp Sherman, is donating the proceeds of sales to Turtle Ridge... Full story

  • Painting sale to benefit library

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Aug 9, 2016

    "Icarus on The Metolius" is a varnished watercolor by Sisters artist Paul Alan Bennett. The original owner of the painting died recently. In his will, he asked that this rare painting should be re-sold to raise funds for the Sisters Library. As sellers of Paul Alan Bennett's fine art, Sisters Gallery & Frame Shop is managing this process. "Icarus On the Metolius" was originally completed in 2003 as a donation piece for Sisters Folk Festival's My Own Two Hands fundraiser. That... Full story

  • Sisters woman authors journal

    Helen Schmidling|Updated May 10, 2016

    During the heart of the recession, Francesca Russo faced a major challenge and changed her life. She left her home and business after 30 years on the Oregon Coast, and with her German shepherd, Yogi, drove to Central Oregon. Circumstances that led to the move were difficult, but ultimately proved constructive. Russo turned her life's experiences into a book, "Becoming Change: A Journal for Mind, Spirit, and Body." "I have learned that compassion for my mistakes has allowed me to forgive and love myself and has helped me love... Full story

  • Foundation explores opportunities in Sisters

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Mar 15, 2016

    Two Ford Family Foundation (FFF) representatives visited Sisters last week to as part of Ford's new initiative to "Listen and Learn" what's happening across Oregon in rural communities like ours. Rocque (pronounced "Rocky") Barros, director of FFF, and Carrie Thompson, a member of the foundation's board of directors, met dozens of people and talked over needs, obstacles, and opportunities for growth and development. "We call these visits Listen to Learn visits," Barros said. He explained the Ford Institute has adopted a... Full story

  • Student art on display at Sisters Library

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Mar 8, 2016

    March is Student Art Exhibit Month at Sisters Library and Sisters' next generation of artists is marching ahead, inspired by ancient and contemporary arts. The Computer Room blasts color, with Clay Warburton's 4th grade students' bold abstract paintings based on Japanese kanji, logographic Chinese characters used in the modern Japanese writing system. Each symbol represents a word, such as "cow" or "fire" or "tree." A haiku, a 17-syllable poem in three lines (5-7-5), accompani... Full story

  • Sisters honors local artists

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Jan 26, 2016

    A horse and rider on a frigid winter night, a Cuban tobacco farmer, some whimsical fish with faces and feathers in their fins, and a magnificent view of Steelhead Falls - all took People's Choice Awards at the 2016 Sisters Library Annual Art Exhibit. "Ghost Rider," by Jennifer Hartwig; "Louis, the Tobacco Farmer," by Linda Hanson; "Don't Be Koi," by Steve Mathews; and "Steelhead Falls," by Randall Tillery took the four awards of equal merit this year. All four artists are... Full story

  • Drought conditions affect Oregon lakes

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Apr 21, 2015

    Gov. Kate Brown has declared a drought emergency in five counties - Crook, Harney and Klamath Counties, Lake, and Malheur - and others may not be far behind. The five are the driest in a state that's facing record dry conditions, having experienced the warmest winter since 1895, low snowpack, and lack of rain. "As you know, we cannot talk about prosperity and economic recovery without acknowledging the crucial role water plays in our quality of life and our livelihoods," the governor said in her State of the State message... Full story

  • The uncertain future of Lake Abert

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Apr 14, 2015

    Oregon's Lake Abert is an internationally important migratory bird habitat with an uncertain future. Between 2012 and 2014, when all of the lakes in south-central Oregon were drier than normal, Abert shrunk to a tenth of its normal size. Because it's remote, the event was barely noticed, save for a small group of private citizens who collected documentary data. Abert is - or was - Oregon's fifth-largest lake, with a recent maximum surface area of 64 square miles: 16 miles... Full story

  • Prehistoric life at Lake Abert

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Apr 7, 2015

    Lake Abert, our state's only salt-water lake, is hardly capable of supporting a human community these days. But Dr. Richard M. Pettigrew of Eugene claims archaeological evidence that human occupation of the lake's margins was once extensive. Pettigrew says, "Concentrations of prehistoric habitation sites around the lake, on terraces at different elevations, suggest that ancestral Native American hunter-gatherers were able to support surprisingly large populations from the... Full story

  • Seminar focuses on salty Lake Abert

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Mar 10, 2015

    Lake Abert in south Central Oregon has no fish, is too shallow for boating, too harsh for swimming, and far from scenic with its barren shoreline, teeming with rattlesnakes. You wouldn't want to pitch a tent or build a cabin on the shore. But if you're a Wilson's phalarope or an eared grebe, or other migrating bird, it's prime dining on the north-south flyway, a buffet of brine shrimp and alkali flies. Lake Abert and nearby Summer Lake are the remains of the pluvial Lake Chewaucan, which once covered 500 square miles in the... Full story

  • 'Visual naturalist' creates wings and feathers calendar

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Oct 21, 2014

    Douglas Beall has been looking for a second pileated woodpecker nest ever since he first saw the first one in 1970. This year, he found it - populated by mom, pop and three babies - and its photograph is the cover image for Beall's "Oregon Wings & Feathers: Central Oregon 2015" calendar. This is the fourth year that Beall has produced Oregon Wings & Feathers calendars, and the first one he's created specifically for Central Oregon. All photos were taken in Oregon, and all proc... Full story

  • Quilters' show 'A Natural Affinity'

    Helen Schmidling|Updated Jul 8, 2014

    Two quilters were asked to describe their quilting style in one word. Wendy Hill quickly responded, "eclectic." Pat Pease had to think on it a while before she came up with, "contemporary." Ten quilts by the two friends comprise an exhibit called "A Natural Affinity," in the community room of the Sisters Library. Hill, who lives in Sunriver, began sewing at age 9 and has been quilting since 1971. She is the author of several popular books on quilting. Pease, from Bend,... Full story